Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because she has appealed the matter to the Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She says the Council finalised the EHC Plan without considering updated evidence and named an unsuitable school.
2. Mrs X says disagrees with the named school and says it has left her child without suitable education for a prolonged period. She wants the Council to acknowledge its fault, apologise and to review her child’s EHC Plan and provide suitable education without delay.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this decision statement.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mrs X.
7. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X has appealed the matter to the Tribunal. The law says we cannot investigate any matter which was part of, was connected to, or could have been part of, the appeal to the Tribunal. This means that if a child is not attending school, or if a parent believes their child should not attend school, and we decide the reason for this is a consequence of the parent’s disagreement about the educational placement in the EHC Plan, we cannot investigate.
9. The period we cannot investigate starts from the date the appealable decision is made and given to the parents or young person. If the parent or young person goes on to appeal then the period that we cannot investigate ends when the Tribunal comes to its decision, or if the appeal is withdrawn or conceded.
10. Mrs X’s complaint that her child should not attend school is a consequence of her disagreement with the educational placement in the EHC Plan, which is under consideration by the Tribunal. The Council is not required to arrange alternative educational placement while the matter is before the Tribunal. Therefore, I cannot investigate her complaint.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has appealed to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman